By Casey Neill
A life-sized cardboard cut-out could be as close as Dandenong gets to a visit from Peter Dutton.
The Immigration and Border Protection Minister hasn’t responded to calls to visit following news of plans to close his department’s Foster Street office, revealed in the Journal on 7 April.
Greater Dandenong Mayor Jim Memeti, the Community and Public Sector Union and Bruce MP Julian Hill have all asked Mr Dutton to hear concerns about the closure first-hand.
They have not received a response.
Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) organiser Nina Taylor said Mr Dutton was being disrespectful to the community by not hearing its concerns.
“Who is this decision looking after?” she said.
“Why do we have politicians? Why do we elect them? We elect them to make decisions for the greater good.
“This decision is clearly not for the greater good.
“Realistically it doesn’t make sense.
“With government policy, the goal is to keep jobs in the suburbs.
“Here they are trying to relocate them to the CBD.
“It is devastating for the staff.
“They’re horrified.”
Mr Taylor said 16 staff worked at the office.
“They do have online services and they do have a call centre, but the call centre is so overloaded it’s not funny,” she said.
“Those facilities – and the department has conceded this themselves – don’t cater to all the different types of people who need to use the service.
“It doesn’t replace face-to-face service.”
Isaacs MP Mark Dreyfus said Mr Dutton did not understand the community’s needs.
“This office means a lot to Dandenong,” he said.
“The services that this office delivers are essential to many in our community, but how would Mr Dutton know if he has never visited?”
Mr Hill said they weren’t “challenging him to a boxing match, just a cup of coffee”.
“He should talk to us about expanding the office and decentralising staff from the Melbourne CBD rather than closing it,” he said.
The Journal asked the Department of Immigration and Border Protection whether Mr Dutton would consider visiting Dandenong to hear concerns about the office closure first hand.
A spokeswoman for the department said the response she provided on 7 April was still current and “we don’t have anything further to add at this time”.
Last month she told the Journal that the Dandenong office lease would expire in October.
“Consultation around the future of the office is being undertaken with the affected 15 staff members, their representatives and key stakeholders,” she said.
The spokeswoman said that whatever the outcome, affected staff would have the opportunity to stay with the department.
“The department is always looking for ways to deliver services more efficiently and equitably to all of our client groups,” she said.
“In recent years, we have moved many of our services on-line.
“We also provide a telephone inquiry service for clients.”
